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Cynthia A. Rice 05/21/98 03:22:04 PM Record Type: Record To: Bruce N. Reed/OPD/EOP CC: Cynthia Dailard/OPD/EOP Subject: Possible Harkin amendment Should I call Peter Reineke and discourage this, or would that just make it worse? Forwarded by Cynthia A. Rice/OPD/EOP on 05/21/98 03:23 PM Cynthia Dailard 05/21/98 03:16:04 PM Record Type: Record To: Cynthia A. Rice/OPD/EOP cc: Subject: Possible Harkin amendment Sherman heard that Harkin may offer an amendment on Doggett (language has not yet been drafted). Doggett now allows us to take action against to address unfair trade practices against US tobacco. Harkin would prohibit the US from taking any trade action on behalf of US tobacco companies, even if other nations are acting in a blatantly discriminatory way against US products From a policy perspective, this sets a bad precedent -- ie. if a country has a green light to blatantly discriminate against one US product, discrimination against other products may follow. And, of course, he would be opening up our international language -- which we wanted to avoid.